Diet Coke, Metropolis, Playing the Theremin, A Mega Bungalow, A Cockroach, 3 Bags of Cat Poo, and Some Kind of Bones in the Crawlspace

I haven't been blogging much, because there hasn't been a whole lot of progress on the house this week. I gave up Diet Coke on Friday in an attempt to cut back on artificial sweeteners. It has made me very, very crabby, so I'm blaming my lack of motivation toward home improvement projects on that.

Okay, I planned to give up Diet Coke on Friday. I had even stuck an iced tea in the freezer beforehand so I could smuggle it into a theatre that night and would not have to indulge in movie theatre drinks. Halfway to the theatre, I realized I had left the glass bottle in the ice compartment--but it was too late to turn back. (Yes, it did crack, and yes, I did have to clean up glass fragments from the freezer.)

On the way to the theatre, we came across this house, not far from Milwaukee Ave and Irving Park Rd:

I am so ready to sell The Box House and move here (it just had a contract put in on it, unfortunately), but Mom would never go back into the city. I forget what it's called, but that nifty thing to the left is something you can drive through to get to the back yard, where the garage is. It's very grand.

The movie we saw was Metropolis, a 1920s science-fiction silent film. The theatre was serving Metrotinis, a concoction made of blue curacao, vodka, and tonic. There were black lights set up at the mini bar, and when the tonic was poured in over the curacao/vodka, the whole drink lit up. It was served with a skewer of cherries, kiwi bits, and glow-in-black-light beads. Yummy, but not enough to quench the thirst during a whole show. I need my sipping drink. Diet Pepsi it was; it was all the theatre had. (I don't care what the taste tests say, Diet Coke is waaaaaaay better; I'm always bummed when D.P. is the only choice.)

All in all it was an entertaining evening. Ted and I both love silent films. We haven't been getting out much lately, so had made a point to see our friend Andy at the show, who was playing the theremin to accompany the organist.

Here's a photo of an early theremin:

and a description of just what the heck it is, both courtesy of Wikipedia:

The theremin is one of the earliest electronic musical instruments, and the first musical instrument played without being touched (originally pronounced [ˈteremin] but often anglicized as IPA: /ˈθɛrəmɪn/, theramin, or thereminvox, it is also known as an aetherphone.) It was invented by Russian inventor Léon Theremin (Russian: Лев Сергеевич Термен) in 1919. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennae which sense the position of the player's hands and control radio frequency oscillator(s) for frequency with one hand, and volume with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. The theremin is an electrophone, a subset of the quintephone family.

To play, the player moves his or her hands around the antennas, controlling frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume). The theremin is associated with an "eerie" sound, which has led to its use in movie soundtracks such as those in Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Theremins are also used in art music (especially avant-garde and 20th century "new music") and in popular music genres such as rock and pop.

Andy let us try it out after the performance, and I made a few electronic squeals, which was quite fun. Unfortunately, no photo of me, but I do have one of another friend of ours testing it out:

I'm not sure whose finger that is next to him, directing.

Afterwards, we went out with friends to a diner, where I consumed a Diet Rite soda with my meal. So, honestly, that was my last diet beverage. At the diner, a miniature cockroach crawled up onto the counter in front of me. Before I could flick it away, the waitress came by and smack! slapped it flat with her bare hand. Her. Bare. Hand. Yeah, gross. Definitely. But also kinda cool. As the waitress washed her hands, she laughed and said, "I'm no girly girl."

Rambling on.

The only house-related things I did over the weekend were to root some more coleus, in blatant disregard for the label that says "do not propagate" (they're going right back into my own garden, anyway)...

...and begin the toxic cleanup of the crawlspace. If you caught it last week, you may be wondering where my anti-previous-owner rant disappeared to, in which I whinged about how their cats had used the crawlspace as a litter box. Well, I took it down because I felt I was being too mean. Although, after cleaning up three grocery store bags of cat poo so far, I'm thinking of reposting it.

Oh, and I also discovered some bones, just below the surface of the dirt.

Look at that set up, all professional-like with the tape measurer.

I haven't even come close to cleaning up the whole crawlspace yet, so suspect there may be more bones and odd discoveries to be found. So, what do y'all think? Old kitty snack, remains of a beloved childhood pet, or a bit of arsenic and old lace going on?